Loose Ends
by history101
Summary: A one-shot that takes place after the anime. With the spirit of the Pharaoh set free his tomb and treasures are discovered and the gang visit the museum to see the exhibit and close the last chapter in the life of a great friend and King. No real pairings in this I'm afraid, please read and review!


A.N. Well here it is, I haven't written much lately as I've been studying for my exams but this wouldn't leave me alone and personally I think I've earned a little break. This isn't the first thing I've ever written for Yu-Gi-Oh but it's the first one I've wanted to post for you nice people to read. (Because between you and me the others were crap and unfinished, and I'm embarrassed to call them my own so they'll never see the light of day.)

But I'd be interested to know that you think about this, it's something that I think would have finished off the anime nicely. Now I will forewarn you that I have used the American names because it was this version that I saw first on tv so I will remain true to my childhood. Despite the fact that they changed quite a bit and in places it is really cheesy I still like this one better, you might disagree with me but I don't mind.

Also I should say that in the American version they made it so the Pharaoh is 5,000 years old and not 3,000, in my story he is 3,000 because, as anyone who has studied the ancient Egyptian timeline, will see that it is more plausible. I am a big big fan of Egyptology so of course their will be some nice little facts thrown in here.

Now I apologise for the long note, don't let it put you off this if you read it at all. And don't forget to leave a review, if only to tell me off about this long note!

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**.Loose Ends.**

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It all started with a phone call.

Solomon Motou sounded like an excited school boy when he called his grandson, Yugi Motou, King of Games one rainy Thursday night. He had been in Egypt with his old friend Professor Arthur Hawkins on a dig in the middle of the Valley of the Kings for about a week and they had uncovered a remarkable, and unbelievable discovery.

"Are you sure, Grandpa, you know what happens when you stay out in the desert heat for too long?" Yugi questioned his grandfather on the phone as the old mans' excited laughter continued.

"Of course I'm sure, this is the greatest find in the Valley since King Tut, I don't know exactly how it was missed before but Arthur and I are absolutely positive. It's completely untouched, it's beautiful, oh, the publicity, if I didn't already have one this would've made my career. And I'll make sure that the exhibit comes to Domino, don't worry," he finished happily and minutes later after listending the said discovery Yugi said his goodbye and stumbled slowly back to bed. He wished his grandfather could have waited and told him in the morning rather than midnight since Yugi had school in the morning, but it was good as the old man said then it was definitely worth it.

If his grandfather really was right then the secrets of his first ever friend would be revealed for all the world to see. The great Nameless Pharaoh who'd been dead for over 3,000 years and a bodiless spirit for around 5 years after that had been Yugi Motou's first friend. And now, according to his grandfather, the Pharaoh's tomb had finally be found. Not the tomb containing the millennium puzzle, it's pit of shadows and lethal traps, but the tomb continuing his mummified body, his golden sarcophagus and his treasures for the next life.

Solomon Motou had always said that because he had found no body in the tomb in which he had unearthed the Puzzle that the Nameless Pharaoh must have had his remains buried elsewhere, to be hidden until his last secret was revealed. And now it had been, the Nameless Pharaoh was nameless would be nameless no more and he had fulfilled his purpose. His journey was now over now, it has been over for almost half a year.

With Yugi's victory King Atemu was able to be free and now his final earthly resting place could be revealed. It was as though it had a will of it's own, or as if the ancients protected it with their power, but now that the journey was finished it had no purpose and so it no longer needed to remain hidden beneath the sands.

The tomb, and all it's riches were uncovered by Solomon Motou and Arthur Hawkins, and Yugi was sure that the Pharaoh wouldn't have wanted it any other way. The young man had to admit that it would be a worldwide sensation, the first tomb to be found intact since Howard Carter and Tutankhamun in 1922. The world would know the name of the great Pharaoh and his legacy would live on...

...Several weeks after the phone call Yugi read in the papers, saw several news report and even saw posters around the city about the new Egyptian exhibit that would soon be gracing the Domino museum with its presence. The stone carvings of the long dead king and photographs of his riches could be seen everywhere. Egyptomania swept every country across the world with the tombs riches and the truth behind the myth of the Nameless King himself would finally be revealed.

"We gotta see this, Yug," Joey said to Yugi in school. The exhibit was due to arrive very soon and Yugi's close friends were excited to see it as Solomon and Arthur were due to fly in to meet them in the museum on its opening day; Saturday.

"Weird though, ain't it?" Duke said as he leaned back against the wall as he sat on his desk. Class wasn't due to start for another 5 minutes so the group of teenagers sat around Yugi's desk.

"How'd ya figure?" Joey asked his friend.

"I mean, it's one thing knowing he's been dead long before we knew him, but seeing his..."

"Mummy?" Tristan finished, waving his hands in the air for effect.

"Yeah...that's just..." the young man with spiky black hair and eye make up found himself unable to finish. He had come to respect the Pharaoh; the mans' intelligence, confidence and power had been something Duke had never seen before. Of course Yugi had intelligence and skill, but the two people were different; perhaps the reason why they were in awe of the ancient king was because he was just that. Yugi was suited to the modern age but Atemu was not, he was anachronistic, and now they had to face facts: that the man had been dead long before any of them were even born.

"...I know..." Teà said sadly as she stared out at the cloudy sky. She missed Atemu, but he didn't belong in their world, he had earned his rest...but that didn't mean that he couldn't be missed.

"Well I'm goin' anyway, we owe it to him," Joey concluded a second before the first bell rang and his friends nodded in agreement as their teacher entered the room.

The week passed uneventfully and soon Saturday arrived, the teenagers made their way to the museum and were allowed in ahead of the que on account of that the discoverer was Yugi 's famed grandfather. Teà, Duke, Tristan, Joey, Serenity, Bakura, Yugi, the two archeologists, and of course Rebecca met up with smiles and hugs. They were joined unexpectedly by Ishizu, Marik and Odeon who claimed that they had been sworn to secrecy by Solomon who had wanted to surprise his grandson and his young fiends.

"It's great to see you guys," Yugi said with a smile as the tanned Egyptians smiled back. "But I gotta admit, I never imagined we'd meet like this," the young man add sadly as he regarded another poster with the carving of the Pharaoh and his name in a gold cartouche hanging from the wall. The title read; THE GREAT NAMELESS PHARAOH, NAMELESS NO MORE!

"Nor I, Yugi, but the Pharaoh knew that this day would come," Ishizu replied sadly as they started to walk through to the first room of artefacts.

"Whoa...it's good to be king..." Joey exclaimed, open mouthed as they were met with shining gold jewellery, their eyes were assaulted by the sunlight streaming in and rebounding off in all directions.

"Check this out!" Tristan called as he pressed his hands against the huge glass case containing a chariot made of gold which had been painstakingly moved and pieced together by Solomon himself. After he told the youngsters this they stared at him for a whole minute than looked back at the chariot.

They passed more and more jewellery, containers of wine and the finest food, mummified animals and thousands of ushabti of all shapes and sizes. Even the clothes that were buried with him had survived, though they were a little worse for the wear. They even spotted a dark blue cape that made them smile ruefully.

There were dozens and dozens of paryrus scrolls, some had been salvaged and were put on display. They had maps, or fine hieroglyphs on them, some counted the taxes collected in each year of his reign, or the flooding of the Nile and the surplus crops it allowed the people to grow. Another recorded the long peace he helped to forge with the small tribes in Canaan, or what shocked them even more were the bloody battles recoreded to have been fought with the Hitties, Egypt's long standing enemy.

A large glass case on a pillar caught their eyes next, it contained probably the second best find in the tomb; the Pharaoh's golden crown. With the golden eye in the centre and the beautiful streamlined golden wings that spread out on either side it was as spotless as the day it was forged. Either side of the crown someone had placed his golden earrings with the ankh on them and a golden collar had been laid out as well. There were bracelets and anklets modded to fit his muscular arms and legs, as well as golden swords, some which had been clearly made for practical use and some for ceremonial purposes.

The jewellery caught the attention of the teenagers as they remembered their friend wearing them when they had travelled into his memories. They found it strange to see them on display in a museum and not adorning their friend as they were supposed to.

There were hundreds of statues of the king, of the gods and of the young Kings' family and stone carvings with hieroglyphs which lined the walls of the rooms of the exhibit. But a particular one stopped Solomon in his tracks, it was his favourite carving of all, not because it was grand or spectacular but because no one else understood its mysterious meaning. It was made, like the others of flawless granite and had no pictures to stare at, instead it was a long message that few could read, and so not one that many people looked too closely at.

"What's it say, gramps?" Joey asked as he noticed that a particular carving had caught the old mans' eye.

"It says that this was carved on strict orders from the king himself, it says that the king knew that one day he would walk the earth again and he would need help," the man read and smiled at his colleague, "A lot of people thing this is all just a good bedtime story but we know different," he told his young friends.

"What'd you mean?" Yugi asked his grandfather curiously.

"These hieroglyphics at the bottom, it reads; thank you," Arthur finished with a smile.

"Huh?" Tristan muttered as he looked strangely at the man, "You sure you haven't lost it?"

"Hey, watch it punk that's my grandfather..." Rebecca shouted but she was silenced by a kindly look from the old man.

"No, most people think its just a hoax or a mistake, but you should know better than that," Hawkins replied and the young mans shoulders slumped in apology. "It first records the battle of the Pharaoh and a great darkness, the story is still told in Egypt I believe," he looked towards the Ishtar's for confirmation.

"Of course, but nothing detailed was ever relayed by the ancients but the story is that same as it ever was for thousands of years," Ishizu answered happily.

"Then it goes on to say that the king had to pay the ultimate price to seal away the darkness, and that he thanks the heroes that helped him on his journey," Solomon finished and for a while no one else spoke.

The exhibit had been arranged to mirror a tomb itself, so that the kings sarcophagus was the last thing the visitors approached. And after hours of wandering the museums vast exhibit the group approached the glass case containing the most magnificent outer stone coffin they'd ever seen. It was a stunning piece of ancient skill with carvings of the goddess Isis on the corners with spread wings to protect the king. It was covered in flawless hieroglyphics and carvings of the king himself.

"Whoa..." Tristan, Joey, Duke, Teà, Serenity, Bakura and even Yugi said the same time.

The golden sarcophagus itself was resplendent in gold with wings of sapphires, rubies, emeralds, lapis lazuli and dozens more semi precious stones. The shining hands were crossed over the chest in the sign of royalty holding the crook and flail as a sign of kingship. The eyes had been made of amethysts by the ancients to resemble the kings own unusual eyes and his unmoving golden face started out into eternity.

And finally the body of the king was resting within the golden coffin, it was a shock to all the teenagers to see him so fragile. His blackened body, though in amazing condition, looked so powerless, the pale teeth had survived and contrasted with the dried out body. The thin eyelids were still visable on the face and the hands were crossed over his chest with the fingernails intact, there were bandages still protecting his sinewy wrists.

On the wall behind the body there was a large poster that had the kings' cartouche in gold and beside it his name was written in English for all to see and repeat; Pharaoh Atemu, the 20th king of the Middle kingdom, son of Pharaoh Aknamkanon and Queen Meskhenet.

"What'd ya suppose is there?" Joey asked, wanting to break the tension. He was staring at the canonic jars that had been carved of beautiful ivory with the heads of different gods that had been placed in another display case against the walls.

"His internal organs I suppose," Bakura answered and Solomon nodded.

"They represent the four sons of Horus and each one is supposedly protected by a god, the first is Duamutef, the jackal-headed god who represents the east guards the stomach," Solomon pointed in turn to the coresponding jar. "He is protected by the goddess Neith. Hapi, the baboon-headed god symbolises the north, and holds the lungs is protected by the goddess Nephthys. Imseti, the human-headed god of the south, has the liver and was protected by the goddess Isis. And finally, Qebehsenuef, the falcon-headed god of the west contains the intestines and was protected by the goddess Selket," Solomon finished as the teenagers looked on in slight disgust at the jar containing the vital organs of their friend.

"What about the heart?" Serenity asked curiously.

"The Egyptians believed it to be the seat of the soul, and so it was left inside the body," Arthur answered.

"And the brain?" Duke asked but Joey quickly recovered from his earlier queasiness and shook his friends shoulders angrily.

"Don't you know anything' you idiot? Don't ask him d'at!" Joey shouted, drawing the attention of the other visitors. Bakura tried to pry Joey away from Duke with Tristans' help as they tried to placate the frustrated teen.

"Well they used to stick a hook up you nose then pull it out through your nostrils," Yugi answered a little too cheerfully then his friends all turned green and Duke apologised for asking while Bakura patted his shoulder with a smile.

They remained in the room with the body of their friends for what felt like hours, but Yugi seemed unable to move. He sat frozen by the glass case surrounded by his friends who were as sad as he was, as they also stared at the huge life size carving of the dark magician. It seemed fitting that the King's most loyal servant stayed close to him even now so Solomon and Arthru had ordered it. The hieroglyphics on the carving simply read; The Dark Magician Mahad, loyal servant and protector of Pharaoh Atemu.

Soon a tall, proud, young man with brown hair and confident blue eyes walked into the room flanked by an excited young boy with wild black hair. "Hey, Yugi!" Mokuba smiled happily as he ran over to the group, "Isn't this place great?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's great," Yugi replied calmly.

"So's that really him?" Mokuba asked and Yugi nodded.

"What'd you doin' here, rich boy?" Joey immediately snapped at Kaiba but for once he didn't retaliate. He simply walked over to the sarcophagus and stared down into the face of the Pharaoh, Kaiba had long gotten over the fact that he could read the ancient hieroglyphs as though it were English and he scanned his eyes over the text on the gold coffin. It proclaimed the Kings accomplishments and bade him a safe journey into the next life.

Kaiba found it unnerving that in the back of his mind there was something trying to make him feel sadness. Perhaps it was merely the acknowledgement of the loss of a worthy rival and nothing more, yes that had to be it. He didn't believe in all the magic that seemed to amuse Yugi and his hopeless friends...despite the fact that he could read hieroglyphs...despite the fact hat he had seen the ancient past...and seen the Pharaoh himself...no he couldn't not believe that there was more in this life than the known and tangible.

If he was honest with himself Kaiba wasn't even sure why he had come, he had seen that the museum was opening its doors and for some reason he and Mokuba were here now. Why? Why did he feel a great sadness, like nothing would ever be right in the world again...like the world had lost one of its greatest leaders? This man had been dead for centuries...he could not have met and conversed with the man if he was dead...could he?

"Seto?" he heard his younger bother speak and he snapped his eyes away from the corpse.

"Come on, Mokuba, we're done," he said emotinonlessly and stalked away.

"What's up with him?" Tea asked with her arms crossed.

"Wish I knew, he's been acting like this for ages, if I had to guess I'd say he misses the Pharaoh," Mokuba answered, "I better go, bye guys," he waved and he was smiled at by his friends as he ran off after his brother.

After another minute the group moved on through the last room and found themselves in the museums' gift shop where Joey amused himself, and them by trying on gold rings and bracelets that resembled the Pharaohs' own jewellery.

"Hey, we could make a fortune, how many people can say they actually knew the guy?" Tristan smiled.

"Then we could get sectioned. What are you, nuts?" Teà thwacked him upside the head while the others laughed.

"Oh right...just an idea," Tristan muttered as he rubbed his now aching head.

"Even for you d'at was a pretty dumb," Joey chuckled as he examined the packets of Egyptian styled foods that the museum sold.

"Oh, like you weren't thinking it?" his friendsnapped angrily.

"No!" Joey shouted back.

"Alright, knock it off," Teà said and as usual the two glared at each other but said no more.

"Well, maybe you could write a book," Serenity suggested hoping to cheer Yugi up a little, "A story," she said.

"Yeah, maybe," Yugi smiled at her.

"So how'd you find the tomb anyway," Rebecca asked her grandfather, "You never told me."

"Or me," Yugi added, now that he came to think about it his grandoa had only said that they had found the tomb, but he'd never said how. Had they been looking for it?

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you," Dolmon said enigmatically and the teenagers frowned.

"Come on, gramps, after all the stuff we've seen?" Joey said sceptically.

"Well, I guess you're right," Solomon smiled, "I saw him in a dream, and he told me the way," he said.

"...A dream...who'd you see?" Yugi asked but he had a feeling that he already knew that answer.

"The Pharaoh," Solomon replied, "Arthur and I had the same dream on the second night of our dig, thought I'd really lost it," he laughed.

"Why'd no none find it before?" Teà asked as they made their way out of the shop and towards the exit.

"It has served its purpose, now that the Pharaoh's spirit is free his name can be known and he can be acknowledged as the saviour of the world once again," Ishizu answered. She felt that the king wouldn't have wanted this publicity or recognition, but he had earned it.

The group of friends left the museum and the sun shone brightly down on them through the clouds as they smiled and laughed at one another. While the Pharaoh's journey was over and done theirs was only beginning and they had long, happy loves ahead of them with many adventures still to come.

Striking amyehtest eyes watched from afar as the small group of 13 walked away from all that remained of his life. His kingdom and his people were long gone, their accomplishments, monuments and remains were lost or decaying in the desert sands. His own remains were decaying for all to see on display but things were as they should be, the desert could only hide so many secrets and his secrets had had its time.

He felt himself fade away as the sun shone down on the world, the semi-transparent spirit of the Pharaoh Atemu began to dissolve into the atmosphere, the glistening fragments blown away by the gentle breeze.

He didn't have anything left, all his secrets were revealed and in death, true death, he was free.

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A.N. So what'd ya think guys? Good? Bad? Unspeakably dreadful? Make sure you let me know!


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